First 2020 club meeting was held on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the Spring Creek BBQ at  4220 FM 1960 in Houston, Texas.

Members in attendance:
Dave B. (President/Secretary)
Bob B. (Vice President/Treasurer),
James E. (Website/Editor)
Tom O.
Joe B.
Tony D.
Steve E.
Matt P.
Ed L.
Rick S.

After a hearty BBQ lunch, the meeting was called to order. A sign-in sheet was passed around along with the agenda:

• New Club Officers announced
  
• Collection of Dues
  
• AOAI Compliance Review
• Website discussion
• AOAI Calendars
• New Club Card & Pens
• Future Events and Activities
• New Business
• Adjourn Meeting

Full meeting minutes are in the "Members Only" section of this web site.

Ten of us met at the Houston location of Gateway Classic Cars for their monthly Caffeine and Cars event.

Tony brought his '63, Tom brought his 2007, Steve brought his 1990 four-door Avanti and Dave brought his 1981!

Afterwards we went out for lunch at a nearby Hooters!

January 13th, 2018 - Third Coast Holiday Party

James Espey and Sarah Heasty hosted the holiday party for 2017/2018 at their home in East Houston on January 20th. Specialty sandwiches, old-school arcade games, white elephant gift exchange and Tom O. got to have his meeting. See the "Members Only" section for details of the meeting and election. If you are a member and would like access, contact us! If you aren't a member, well shame on you! Contact us anyway and we can fix that!

January 9th, 2016 - Third Coast Holiday Party

We are fortunate, as last year, as Bob Bucher has graciously offered his home for our January Avanti Get Together. Bob is Providing the Meat and it's up to us to bring a dish to share. Bob can be reached at, [email protected] or (713) 515 1426. Bob is located in Willis just north of hwy 1097. He can fill you in on details when you call or email to confirm attendance. Please notify as early as you can to make the host's efforts as effortless as possible.

October 3rd, 2015 - 7th annual Trinity Episcopal Church Car Show!

Trinity Episcopal Church
3901 S. Panther Creek, The Woodlands, TX

9:00 AM Registration ($25.00) includes Hotdog/Hamberger lunch. Awards 1:00 PM. Charity, Boy Scouts Program.October 10th, 2015 - Conroe Cruisers 13th Annual Fall Car ShowI-45 League Line Rd. Outlet Mall, Conroe, TX

Registration 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM ($30.00October 24th, 2015 - 8th Annual Halloween Classic.National Museum of Funeral History. 415 Barron Spring Drive, Houston, Texas

Registration $25.00 (5 different Charities). Best Club Participation, $100.00 Award + every entry gets a ticket to the funeral museum. Costume Contest - Best decorated Auto's.

November 5-7th, 2015 - AACA Fall Central Meet, Houma LA

Avanti owner Fred Duplechin, Chapter Meet orgainizer/Chairman: Their web site is www.aaca-centralfallmeet15.org

It was a brisk morning for those who attended the Toys for Tots car show in Splendora, TX. For a small town show the turnout was nothing short of great. In addition to club members’ four Avanti II’s, Tony and Shirley Darrow brought their 1956 Packard Clipper. The Darrow’s Clipper is the beautiful turquoise one pictured below. What was a truly amazing occurrence was that no longer than 10 minutes after the Darrow’s arrived another couple also driving a turquoise 1956 Packard Clipper! What are the chances of that? The only obvious difference was that the Darrow’s was sporting a factory installed supercharger (photo upper right).
 
There were also several fantastic custom rods, restored American classics particularly a very clean navy blue 1968 Camaro RS (engine bay pictured lower left). Bob Bucher fell in love with an original tailgate F150 long bed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such strong feelings for a tailgate, however it certainly was in fantastic shape and the owner had a great story about how he came by it for a steal at a swap meet. I wish I had taken a picture of this truck because it was a truly well done restoration and the color was fantastic. We all managed to survive the cold with some great hot cocoa and fresh BBQ.  The event was a success, as the trailer was overflowing with toys by the end of the show. Our fearless and altruistic leader, Tom Ossowski donated a 22 lb. turkey (photo lower right) to the event.  Although none of our club members’ took home any awards, I think it is fair to say a good time was had by all and I’m glad so many were able to make it out.

The October 25th meeting was a well-attended great success! Five Avantis and a Hawk came out, and one member came all the way to Houston from Big Spring, Texas. Though a full report will be in the November newsletter (are you signed up to receive it?) due out November 10th, an interim newsletter with the highlights will be sent out before the end of the October.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

Three local members - Tom O., Joe B., and Matt P. - didn't let a little rain stop them from making the drive to College Station and the Studebaker Drivers Club Central Texas Chapter BBQ on October 11th. Photos by Matt P.

Billed as "The world's largest one day charity car show" this event was held in Costa Mesa, California and local member James Espey attended the show while in SoCal on other business. Of the more than a thousand cars at this event, there was just one Avanti present as shown below. More details about this very uniquely styled Avanti, billed as an "Avanti Art Car Tribute" can be found here.